Another Monday morning rolls around and bleary eyed, we reach for our caffeine based beverage of choice; but is there another way?

Another Monday morning rolls around and bleary eyed, we reach for our caffeine based beverage of choice; but is there another way? A way that, for the same price of said stimulant, you could enjoy a few hours of gaming goodness on your way to work?

This week’s game for the ‘Cost of a Coffee’ was inspired by a short game that the developer created for his girlfriend one Valentines Day, featuring the pair of them; after deciding to build his dream, a Kickstarter campaign was launched in November 2012 and less than a year later ‘Fist of Awesome’ was released. The developer is called ‘I Fight Bears’ and their slogan is “games for people with beards”. Really, do I need to go on? That should be enough to have sold this to you…

Okay, the details; you play as a Lumberjack called Tim Burr who, whilst enjoying a family BBQ, suddenly awakes in a world taken over by bears; thankfully he finds his hand to be possessed by the titular Fist of Awesome. The pair travel through time and space to undo the upset of Ursus origin. The game starts in the forest which Tim Burr calls home, where you will encounter some deranged deer before heading into Bearhattan and confront the furry menace head-on. From here you’ll visit a prehistoric age, medieval times and a bear strip club during the course of the game. The gameplay for this side scrolling bet-em up, is a lot of fun and the controls are really well implemented using the touchscreen. There are a variety of moves which are easily accomplished, without feeling that you’re just button mashing (or should that be screen smudging?). You gain XP and level up throughout the game by assigning points to categories including Power, Health, Speed and more; a nice touch is that you only rank-up and spend these points when you die, so the game avoids becoming too frustrating as the difficulty ramps up. Alongside the short campaign there is also an Arena mode which allows you to play as other characters in the game in the different environments, taking on challenges and levelling them up as you go.

The visuals are in a deliberately 8 bit style, in keeping with the Double Dragon and Streets of Rage vibe; this works well on the iPhone, but loses some impact on a larger screen. The music manages to keep the same tongue-in-cheek style as the rest of the game, with the delightfully synth soundtrack invoking memories of the ‘Chaos Engine’ and charming sound effects which you really need to listen to!

At £2.49 this game might be considered expensive for a mobile title, but it’s honestly worth the investment when you consider the time and attention to detail that’s gone into the game, how much fun it is to play, and that it will only cost you 9 pence more than a Flat White on your way to work this morning!

You’ll be a burly bear if you don’t bump fists with this game, available now on iOS and Android.

@CodecMoments Thanks for the shoutout on your latest episode. We were worried that we’d broken you after you joined us for “Skinners”. You haven’t done anything since...
Amazed at how much you squeezed into that lovely 21 minutes. 👏 pic.twitter.com/WDbZ…